Google’s Rosenberg Leaving As Product Head As Page Returns As CEO

Jonathan Rosenberg, a nine-year Google (NSDQ: GOOG) veteran and the head of all of the company’s product development efforts, has announced plans to leave the company on the first day of co-founder Larry Page’s return to the CEO chair at Google.

Rosenberg was in charge of “the design, creation and improvement of all of Google’s products, from consumer offerings to publisher and business services,” according to a copy of his bio, which is still available on Google’s management page. Google confirmed the news through its Twitter account, pointing to a story in the San Jose Mercury News with an official statement from Page. The news was first reported by Business Insider.

The statement provided by Google to the Mercury News indicated that Rosenberg decided he couldn’t give Page, who officially retook the CEO spot Monday, the same multiyear commitment to the company that Page has asked other Google executives to provide as he makes the transition from the leadership provided by current executive chairman Eric Schmidt. The report, which Google declined to elaborate on beyond verifying its accuracy providing a link, said that Rosenberg promised his daughter he would leave Google around the time she goes to college, which will be in 2013.

“We tried to hire Jonathan multiple times because he was the only person we could imagine doing the job. It’s lucky we were so persistent because he’s built an amazing team–hiring great people, who’ve created amazing products that have benefited over a billion users around the world,” Page said in a prepared statement.

Google’s vast array of products will now be run by their team leads, as Page indicated that Google doesn’t intend to immediately hire a replacement for Rosenberg. Despite his high-profile position Rosenberg was not the public face of the product team, leaving appearances at Google conferences and events to product team leads like Marissa Mayer, currently head of Google’s local efforts, and Sundar Pichai, leader of the Chrome team. However he was identified as a key mentor in the Mercury News article for a generation of Google’s early leaders, including Mayer and advertising leader Susan Wojcicki.

And as a named executive at Google, Rosenberg often represented the company on earnings calls with financial analysts, most recently in January. He received a substantial raise in November 2010, scheduled to earn $650,000 in 2011, up from $500,000 in 2010 as Google made employee retention a priority. He also received $5 million in equity compensation at that time.

Rosenberg plans to stay at Google for a few months through the summer before taking time off and eventually doing consulting work for Google. He’s also planning a book with Schmidt on Google’s management style, according to the Mercury News.